Re: [LEAPSECS] RAS hits the news

From: Tom Van Baak <tvb_at_LEAPSECOND.COM>
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:47:13 -0700

> So, dropping leap seconds from UTC would cause these receivers
> to, eventually, go back 19 years on cold start? Hardly a major
> catastrophe but worth noting.

Ed,

There are no proposals to "drop leap seconds" as
such. The proposal, as I understand it, is/was to
hold leap seconds at their current value.

In this case no computer or GPS receiver or cell
phone or clock appliance or any man-made timing
related intra-planet technology would go forward
or back or anything. Observe that nothing will break,
for example, if the 12/31/2005 leap second were to
not occur.

The only problem is that UTC would soon diverge
from UT1 beyond 0.9 seconds and so extra-planet
devices (e.g., precision telescope systems) would
need correction at some point. This introduces a
large set of interesting, legitimate, philosophical and
financial questions by, especially, astronomers.

But either way, nothing with GPS receivers will break.

/tvb
Received on Mon Sep 26 2005 - 12:55:30 PDT